CONGRESS

Weiner Scandal Likely to Dominate House Agenda

With pressure mounting for him to resign, embattled Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., was showing no signs of resigning on Thursday in New York City -- at least that's what he was saying.

Weiner can expect a less-than-warm welcome from his colleagues when the House returns to Washington next week. How he responds to calls from fellow Democrats for his resignation will largely determine his political viability, both short term and over the long haul.

The Weiner scandal will likely dominate the agenda when the House Democratic Caucus meets on Tuesday. So far, Weiner has made no request to address his colleagues. The meeting will be House Democrats’ first gathering as a group since Weiner admitted to lewd online antics with multiple women and to lying about the incident that exposed his behavior.

As of Thursday morning, according to Democratic sources, Weiner has not asked to be put on the agenda.

Instead, members are scheduled to hear from Michael Greenberger. He is a University of Maryland law professor who is a former director of the Division of Trading and Markets at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Why Weiner would not seek time during that meeting to personally apologize to his colleagues, plea for mercy, or give further explanation for his actions is unclear. His office did not respond to inquiries on Thursday morning.

Any news that he is seeking such an opportunity would be a certain signal that Weiner plans to stick around, at least through Tuesday, even though some members are urging him to step down.

Regardless of whether Weiner attends the caucus meeting or whether he stands up to speak, his troubles will be the hot topic when members return to town.

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has asked the House Ethics Committee to look into whether Weiner used official resources to transmit images to women online, which would constitute a violation of the ethics code.

The Ethics Committee hasn’t said, officially, that it will take up the matter, but it almost certainly will oblige Pelosi, who historically has been reluctant to ask members tied to suspected misconduct to resign, preferring to let the ethics or investigative processes play out.

But at least a half-dozen of Weiner’s other Democratic colleagues have asked him to leave, and some have purged their campaign committees of any donations from him, sending that money on to charities.